filum

See also: fílum

English

Etymology

From Latin fīlum (“thread”).

Noun

filum (plural fila)

1. (anatomy) a filamentous anatomical structure

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-. Cognate with Lithuanian gysla.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfiː.lum/, [ˈfiː.ɫũ]

Noun

fīlum n (genitive fīlī); second declension

1. thread, string, filament, fiber
2. texture, style, nature
3. wick of a lamp
4. accusative singular of fīlum
5. vocative singular of fīlum

Inflection

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	fīlum	fīla
genitive	fīlī	fīlōrum
dative	fīlō	fīlīs
accusative	fīlum	fīla
ablative	fīlō	fīlīs
vocative	fīlum	fīla

Synonyms

• (wick): mergulus

Descendants

• Corsican: filu
• Dalmatian: fil
• Eastern Romance:
  • Aromanian: hir, hjir, hiru
  • Romanian: fir
• Italian: filo, fila
• Old French: fil
  • French: fil
    • → English: file (“collection of papers”) (see there for further descendants)
    • ⇒ French: file
      • → English: file (“column of people”)
      • → Spanish: fila
• Old Leonese:
  • Asturian: filu
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: fil, fila
  • Occitan: fial
• Old Portuguese: fio
  • Galician: fío
  • Portuguese: fio
• Old Spanish: filo
  • Spanish: hilo, filo
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: fîl
  • Romansch: fil
• Sardinian: filu, fiu
• Sicilian: filu
• Venetian: fiło, fil
• → Albanian: fill
• → English: filum

References

• filum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• filum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• filum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• filum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette